


Grand Illusion

by Wispie



Series: Strangers [3]
Category: Misfits (TV 2009)
Genre: (which is to be expected with nathan), Canon Compliant, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of Sex, Mentions of drugs, Nudity, Slow Burn, follows the plot of the show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:26:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27160432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wispie/pseuds/Wispie
Summary: A new social worker has shown up to replace the last one. Also, Nathan's definitely-not-stepdad might be a werewolf.
Relationships: Nathan/Reader
Series: Strangers [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1982500
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Grand Illusion

**Author's Note:**

> Season 1, Episode 1 + Episode 2 
> 
> Songs:  
> Too Much On My Mind - The Kinks  
> I Won’t Hurt You - The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
> 
> “Where are you going, I don’t mind  
> I’ve killed my world and I’ve killed my time”
> 
> (Reposted from my Tumblr, gloriainalbis.  
> Link: https://gloriainalbis.tumblr.com/post/629521481498542080/strangers)

You’re just about done changing, closing your locker and stepping away to zip up the front of your jumpsuit and fix your hair. It’s just you, Nathan, Curtis, and Simon remaining when Nathan whistles and motions for everyone to huddle up. 

“So…” he begins seriously, an emotion one does not typically expect from Nathan. “If anyone asks what happened yesterday, we say nothin’, right? It’s just a completely normal day.” You nod in agreement as he looks at each of you in turn. 

Having left the locker room, you are now all standing together to await whatever new probation worker was sent to replace Tony after his  _ mysterious disappearance _ . You try to look as normal as possible, leaning casually against a pillar and  _ definitely _ not making any sideways glances at your fellow young offenders. It‘s hard to resist the urge.

A woman walks up to stand before you all, she looks to be about in her early thirties and is dressed simply but well. Her hair is dark, long, and some of it is pulled away from her face. She’s pretty, but by all accounts, a remarkably normal person. You assume she’s the new probation worker, and you’re right. 

“Gary and my colleague Tony have both been reported missing. Their families are very worried about them. Have you seen anything unusual? Anything at all?”

Nathan raises his eyebrows and holds up a finger to catch her attention. 

“You saw something?” she asks. You desperately want to stop this. Nathan has just told you, moments ago, that you should act like nothing happened yesterday, and yet here he is. He probably isn’t going to tell her the truth, you can’t imagine him ratting everyone out like that, but you can’t imagine him saying anything that would make the situation better, either. 

“A few days ago…” Kelly shakes her head slightly, trying to get him to stop, and you try to catch his eye to send him a harrowing gaze, but he just barrels on. “I go into the toilets, Tony and Gary were in there. They’re butt naked.” You breathe a sigh of relief that luckily sounded remarkably close to exasperation, which is probably because it was. “Tony has Gary by his hair, like this, an’ he’s just doin’ him, doggy style!” He starts to thrust and grunt, and you put a hand to your cheek, half over your mouth to suppress your involuntary grin. What he’s doing was disgusting, but oddly entertaining. It’s like watching a trainwreck. “And Tony is like ‘ _ Aaagh! _ Who’s your daddy? I’m your daddy, I’m Big Daddy!’” It’s vulgar, honestly. Nathan gets really into it, making crude motions and grunts, chanting, “Oh yeah, oh yeah,  _ ooooh yeah! _ ” before calling out “I’m daddy cool!” Tony would have presumably finished then, because Nathan stops thrusting to put his hands on his hips and return to his normal posture. “So I’m guessing they’ve ran away to continue their illicit homosexual affair. And I ask you, in this world of intolerance and prejudice, who are we, who are  _ we _ to condemn them?” He’s on point with the social justice, but now is decidedly not the right time, place, or circumstances. The probation worker says nothing and just walks away. 

You reach out and shove Nathan. “What the everloving fuck was that?”

He gasps indignantly. “I was just trying to act normal!” 

“If that’s your idea of normal, then there’s somethin’ seriously wrong in your head,” Kelly scolds. 

“I thought we already knew that,” Curtis agrees, earning a giggle from Alisha. 

You all congregate on the roof, standing together, overlooking the lake and office buildings on its far side. Ah, the charming sights of Wertham, an army of identical fifteen-story grey blocks. 

Nathan takes a drag from his cigarette before smiling, “Well, I think we got away from it.”

“Do you actually believe that, or are you just really dumb?” Curtis asks sarcastically, and you snicker.

“I actually believe that!” Nathan insists. You had just laughed at him, but there’s something in Nathan’s earnest voice that makes you want to believe it, too. “I mean I was there, right? I should have one of these bullshit powers.” 

“You can have mine,’ Kelly gripes. “You want to hear what people are thinkin’ about  _ you? _ ” 

“Not so much, no. I want something good, you know? Something from the A-list.”

“Maybe you can fly,” Simon offers quietly. Nathan’s face lights up. 

“He’s not going to be able to fly,” Alisha reasons. 

“Yeah, there’s always someone who can fly, check it out!” His confidence in this proposition seems inordinately inflated. 

“We don’t need you trying to jump off buildings like superman to test it,” you add, knowing full well that Nathan could and would. 

“Ah, I won’t!” He walks over to a nearby chair, far away from the roof’s ledge, and climbs up. 

“This has no chance of working, right?” You lean in to whisper to Kelly.

“None,” she agrees. Nathan leaps into the air, raising his arms up hopefully, but he just falls to the ground like a sack of bricks, except with the addition of a nasty smack. 

“ _ Ow! _ No, that’s not it,” he groans, picking himself up with a childish expression of annoyance on his face. 

“So what happens now? Is this it?” Curtis asks, turning to look at everyone. “Are we gonna be like this forever?” 

“What if we’re meant to be, like, superheroes?” Now, you really do want to include Simon more, he seems like a genuinely nice, if chronically shy, person, but his suggestions today are horribly lacking. 

“You lot, superheroes?” Nathan asks, sounding more jealous than anything. Kelly looked worryingly contemplative, and you’re bothered by how well the story seems to fit. “No offense, but in what kind of fucked up world would that be allowed to happen?” 

“This world is pretty fucked up,” you point out. 

“I did not sign up for that,” Alisha exclaims. 

“Superheroes!” Nathan continues with the thinly-veiled jealousy. “I love this guy, you prick!” 

“What if there’s loads of people like us all over town?” Kelly askes, and she has a point. It had been a pretty large storm, you couldn’t be the only people who had seen or experienced it, right? Are there other people going about their normal, daily lives discovering their powers right now? 

“No,” Nathan scoffs, cigarette smoke billowing from his nose. “That kind of thing only happens in America. This will fade away. I’m telling you, by this time next week, it’ll be back to the same old boring shit.” Needless to say, this would not prove to be at all true. 

Your task that day is picking up litter, each of you are given a large plastic bag and trash grabber before being set loose on the city, to collect trash with reckless abandon! In reality, you probably won’t even stray far from the community center. As you follow along the edge of the lake, Nathan continues to complain about his lack of a cool new superhero ability. 

“And what? Because you’re all special and I’m not? Yeah, well I doubt it. You can think what you like, but I have a ‘superpower’” he uses air quotes and says the word in a comically high-pitched valley-girl voice. “I just need to find out what it is.”

“Maybe you’re just super retarded!” Alisha proclaims, and a cursory glance at the rest of the group would tell you she isn’t the only one growing annoyed at him. 

“Maybe I’ve got a whole Spiderman vibe going on, you know?” he continues unabashed. “Maybe I can climb stuff and do spider shit.”

“Yeah, cuz that makes perfect sense,” Curtis cuts in. “Why would you be able to climb stuff?” 

“I don’t know!” Nathan calls back. “How is it that you can turn back time, apparently? And weird kid can turn invisible?” He pokes Simon in the back of the head with his grabber. “It’s not like this whole situation is backed up by a wank-load of logic.” 

Later in the morning, you’ve moved all the way from right outside the community center to a tunnel under a nearby bridge. It’s a disturbingly gross place, but its inordinate abundance of trash has led you there, calling to be picked up and sent away to landfill. Curtis peers curiously at something he’s picked up with his grabbers, some sort of melted hunk of plastic. But as he peers, he notices something tucked into a corner not that far away. Something that looks fleshy and pink and remarkably human. 

“What is  _ that? _ ” he asks, voice dripping with disgust. You scrunch up your nose and move in to get a closer look. 

“Oh, god…” you groan. It’s a human man, completely naked, lying face down on the pavement. You are suitably disgusted. 

“Is he breathin’?” Kelly asks. Alisha strides forward without much hesitation and pokes his bare ass with her grabber. 

“Hey, nude guy!” she calls. “You’re naked!” Your eyes widen and everyone, yourself included lets out cries of protest as he rolls over to reveal himself, full-frontal. It’s not a pretty sight. Simon snapps a photo, you’re not exactly sure why, but documentation seems to be his response to everything so far. 

“Good lord!” Curtis protests, turning away. 

“Oh my god!” Alisha laughs, finding it funny more than anything else. Kelly actually turns around completely to avoid seeing any more of it. 

Nathan’s jaw, however, drops. Realization spreads over both of their faces and Nathan points an accusatory finger at the naked man before crying out, “ _ You?! _ ” The man stands up as fast as he can and bolts, but Nathan is outraged. “Hey!” He tries running after the man, but it’s too late. 

“Do you want to tell us who that was?” Curtis questions through a chorus of laughter. 

“He’s my mum’s– He lives with my mum.” He eyes everyone defensively. 

Alisha chuckles before proclaiming matter-of-factly, “Your stepdad has got a  _ massive _ cock.” You snicker, even though you don’t want to have to think about it much. It was quite a disturbing image, even more so now that you know he’s close to Nathan’s mum. But… it  _ was _ true. 

“Jesus!” Nathan cries in objection. “And he’s not my stepdad, alright?” 

You hold up your arms in mock surrender, “I assure you, I’m completely ready to forget about that picture, it should be purged from my mind.”

Alisha leans closer to you and Kelly, guffawing. “Did you see that thing? That was like monster big!” She locks eyes with Nathan and hisses as if in pain, lowering her voice suggestively. “Your mum will  _ hurt _ .” 

“La, la, la! Shut up!” He closes his eyes and literally sticks his fingers in his ears to block out her nasty comments. 

“Why’s he naked?” Kelly asks, turning to Nathan for the answers he doesn’t have. He gapes, trying to piece it all together, but Alisha speaks up before he can be given the chance. 

“Well he’s obviously some kind of pervert. Or he’s gay.” You wince at the presumptive, nay, offensive comment, not exactly fond of how it perpetuates harmful stereotypes. 

Curtis scoffs at her remark, “That follows.”

“Well, he was cruising for rough trade!” she explains indignantly. “They love that shit!” 

“Oh, a little light homophobia? Go for it!” You have to agree with Curtis’ sarcastic reply here for a multitude of reasons, one of which being because you highly doubt Natha’s stepdad is secretly gay. 

“Or he could be a rapist,” Kelly muses with far too much nonchalance. “There’s loads of ‘em ‘round here.” 

“Maybe he’s a werewolf,” Simon posits seriously. 

Everyone sort of sneers at the idea and Nathan certainly isn’t pleased, exclaiming, “Twat!” 

“It’s what happens in films,” Simon tries to elaborate, growing visibly more nervous by the second. “You turn into a werewolf, you kill someone, an’ then you wake up somewhere naked… Like a zoo.”

“He’s not a werewolf, alright?” Nathan protests hotly, defensiveness creeping into the edges of his voice. With the recent storm and all these odd powers, it’s all too likely that Simon’s right, or at the very least eerily close. “This guy is such a pussy, he needs my mum to open jars for him. I’m sure if he was a werewolf, he’d be able to open a jar of peanut butter for himself!” 

“What happens if the storm messed him up?” Kelly interjects. 

“Yeah,” you add, agreeing with her not only because it does make some sense, but also because you really want to bother Nathan, “he’s probably only been a werewolf for two days.”

“What do you mean  _ probably? _ ” Nathan proclaims. His growing look of disbelief is incredibly amusing.

“Well, Alisha had a point…” You look away and raise your eyebrows to insinuate what you mean. 

“Oh,  _ fuckin’ _ hell, y/n! You, of all people?” he gapes, and you try not to laugh at his expression. This is far more fun for you than it should be. 

“Thank you!” Alisha cries, feeling vindicated by your agreement. It isn’t fun to say, but she wasn’t wrong. 

“That’s bollocks, the storm didn’t do nothin’ to him,” Nathan insists, but it’s starting to sound more like he’s trying to convince himself than you. “What are the chances?” The question hangs uncomfortably in the air. No one answers, and Nathan ends up just rolling his eyes and scoffing before stalking off and getting back to work, picking up trash. 

You take a quick shower at the community center before heading home, feeling pretty grimy from searching for and collecting trash all day. Toweling off and gathering your things, you wonder if Nathan’s still around. He walked home with you the past few days and you really did enjoy his company. You decide to take a cursory look around, running into Sally in the process. 

“Oh, y/n, why’re you still here?” She’d looked to be pretty nice, so you’re surprised by the scrutinizing and cold tone you can hear creeping up behind her words.

“I decided to shower before heading home,” you explain, trying to keep your voice as level as possible to allay suspicion. “Have you seen Nathan around?” 

“Yeah, he was by some vending machines a few minutes ago,” she tells you. 

“Okay, thanks! Have a good one.” You give her a small wave as you turn down a nearby hall, wondering why her smile doesn’t feel genuine. After about five minutes of searching, you enter a large common area with a raised loft in one corner. It’s there you find Nathan, sitting on the floor with arms resting on the railing and legs dangling over the edge. He’s surprised to see you, suddenly sitting up straighter and adopting the expression of someone caught in a nefarious act. 

“Oh, Nathan! There you are.” You approach him on the ground below, looking up with a smile. 

“Y/n!” He looks pleased, but notably apprehensive. 

“I was just wonderin’ if you wanted to walk home with me?” you ask, growing increasingly suspicious. 

“Uuuuh, well, I don’t know...” It’s then that you notice the duffel bag and mattress behind him. 

“Wait, why do you have a mattress? And a bag?” You start to piece together a few pieces of this puzzle. 

“I’ve only known you for three days, I don’t think we really need to know the intimate details of each other’s personal lives,” he stalls, leaning back to push the bag out of your view. But you aren’t about to give up that easy. 

“Screw that, what about being bonded by our shared traumatic experience?” You thought you were becoming friends with Nathan and don’t want to give that up so soon. And besides, you feel like you’ve known everyone in your service group for far longer than three days. It’s probably the superpowers and experience of burying your probation worker and fellow young offender together, but you want it to be more than that. 

Nathan gives in, “Alright, fine, come on up.” He patts the space beside him and you grin, turning to walk up the stairs and join him. Once up there, you have a better view of things. Not only is there a mattress, but also a pillow and blanket, and his half-unzipped bag, which appears to be full of clothes. You sit down next to him, dangling your legs over the edge beside his own. You don’t speak, allowing him to open up when he wants to. A few tense moments pass. 

“My mum kicked me out after our first day of community service,” he finally admits in a small, defeated voice. 

“I’m sorry, that sucks,” you murmur in response. While you’ve never actually been kicked out, you always felt that it was just about to happen, and you’ve used up all your chances with your dad and stepmum, once you move out, you know you’ll never be able to live with them again. 

He nods, “It does. I’ve been sleeping here.”

“That’s why you were sneaking out of here yesterday morning,” you realize. 

“Yeah,” he chuckles, remembering how you caught him climbing out of a window. Then you recall what Nathan said when Tony was taking everyone’s phones. 

“Is that also why you were expecting a call from your mum?” He nods wordlessly. “Well, did she?” 

“No,” he shakes his head bitterly. “She’s cut me out.” 

“That’s  _ bullshit _ ,” you counter. Nathan turns to look at you, perplexed. “She doesn’t know what she’s missing out on.” 

His face lights up in a worrying surge of confidence. “Yeah! I mean look at me,” he holds his arms up in a strongman pose and grunts while trying to flex. You cannot for the life of you tell if he’s being serious, but he looks absolutely ridiculous, so you burst out laughing. “I don’t know what you’re laughing at,” he continues, unphased. 

“ _ It’s pathetic! _ ” you wheeze between laughs. He almost snickers, half a chortle making it through his poker-faced veneer. 

“This’s one’s smasher,” he nods to his left bicep and you snort. “This one’s basher,” he nods to his right bicep. It’s redundant to say that you devolve into a fit of hysterical laughter. “And this one…” he points to his crotch and you shake your head, already wheezing, “is The Destroyer!” That absolutely does it in for you, and Nathan can’t hold it in any longer either, he breaks down laughing with you. After a while, the laughter dies down and you’re simply sitting beside one another in amiable silence. 

Nathan jumps to his feet and holds out a hand to help you up. “Come on, I’ll walk you home.”

“But what about…” you motion to all his stuff, but take his hand anyways and stand up. 

“I’ll walk back later. Now that you’ve become acquainted with where I live, I’d like to see your humble abode.” He grins and begins to walk down the stairs to the room’s main level. 

“Alright, but beware, my stepmum’s a bitch,” you warn, following after him. 

“Well, have you ever found her butt naked in a dark alleyway and come to the sudden and disturbing realization that she has gorgeous tits?” 

You cringe at the thought, “Can’t say that I have.” Nathan is curiously silent for a few moments. 

“Does she, though? I’m curious,” he muses with a cheeky grin. 

“Nathan!” you gasp, punching him in the shoulder. 

“Ow! Point taken! Why do you keep punching me?” he curses, glaring at you with playful indignance. 

You smile to yourself, pleased. “Because you deserve it and someone has to.” 

Together you walk to your house, entirely unsure and uneasy about what will happen next. You grow increasingly anxious as you approach your house. There isn’t really a nice side of Wertham, but your stepmom likes to think you live there anyways. She is wrong, suburban Wertham is just as grungy and seamy as the city itself, it just looks marginally more pleasant. Once you’re at the front door, you stop and turn to Nathan. 

“Okay, here’s the plan. We go in, we try to get upstairs as quickly as possible. If we see my stepmum, we stay civil and try to get away without offending her. Sound good?” You exhale a deep breath, unsure of whether you should be amping up or calming down. 

“Yeah, but why do we need a plan?” Nathan asks innocently. 

“You’ll see,” you explain, opening the door. You aren’t really sure what to expect, to be perfectly honest. Your stepmum barely even wants you there, so you never really push it by bringing home anyone else. In secondary school, the only people you had over were friends you’d made before she married your dad, and thus people she had no real control over your relationship with. But once she was in the picture, you suddenly preferred going over to other people’s houses rather than having them come to yours. Hopefully, things would be different now, with you being an at least semi-autonomous adult. But probably not. You lead Nathan inside the front hall, so far so good, and turn to go up the stairs when things go south. 

“Ah, ah, ah! Who’s this, y/n?” your stepmum stops you, rushing out from wherever she’d been to literally stand between you and the stairs. 

“Hullo!” Nathan perks up, smiling broadly and sticking out a hand. “I’m Nathan.” Ah, so when you said ‘civil,’ he’d heard ‘unnervingly polite.’

“He’s from community service,” you explain. She glances down at his hand with mild disgust, and so he drops it. 

“Well, I would appreciate it if you didn’t bring those people to his home,” she sneers with a fake smile. 

“ _ I’m  _ those people,” you point out. Talking back hadn’t been in the plan, but the plan was never going to work anyways. 

She casts a derisive glance between you and Nathan, “Evidently.” 

Your dad walks in, then, from the kitchen, holding a casserole between oven-mitted hands. 

“Oh, y/n! Are you gonna have dinner with the family?” his tone is cheerful, but the insinuation behind his words stings you. 

“No, I’m clearly not a part of this family,” you murmur, hoping someone will contradict you, but your dad just squirms and looks sort of uncomfortable. No one says anything, even Nathan remains gloriously silent. “ _ Wow! _ Okay, so we’re going. Bye.” You grab Nathan’s hand and he lets you drag him away. Once outside, though, you drop it and stalk down the street, just trying to get away from your house. Tears prick at your eyes as you allow yourself to break down. It hurts. It hurts to not be included, even if you expected it. That woman had taken so much from you, had pushed you to become what you were and live the life you’d lived just because she expected it. There are people around you, of course, saying that you’re more than that, but when she looks at you like you’re nothing, you  _ feel _ like nothing. 

Nathan follows after you, “Hey, y/n, where are we goin’?”

“Away!” You call after him. He catches up to you soon after that, when you’re about a block away from your house, grabbing your arm to get you to stop. Neither of you say anything, but he sits down on the curb and motions for you to join him. You do. He puts his arm around your shoulder and you lean into him. He smells like cigarettes, bandaids, and sharpies, and you wonder why, but it distracts you, and so you revel in it. This is the closest you’ve ever been, and even though you’ve only known each other for three days now, you seem to fit perfectly there. 

Nathan leans his head in closer to you, “You know, if it makes you feel any better, she had really wack tits.” 

You laugh despite yourself, “It does, actually.” You smile and close your eyes, allowing yourself to become lost in the feeling of his arm around you and the smell of his clothes, which remind you of the community center and of him. You sit there for a few moments, in comfortable silence. 

“What’re you gonna do now?” he asks.

“I’ll just sneak in through my window, the lock’s broken,” you murmur in a quiet voice. He nods but doesn’t move. Eventually, you say your goodbyes and sneak back into your respective living spaces, but for now, you remain in his arms. For now, you’re together. 


End file.
